Green Sneaky Bean and Winter Fruit Smoothie

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December 19, 2012•2 comments

Smoothie satisfies, even in the off-season

Clean Eating Smoothie

Usually I don’t bother with creating smoothie recipes. If you stick to the basics—bananas, summer berries, milk and yogurt—you’re bound to have delicious success. But how about during the winter months when fresh, local, seasonal fruit is more difficult to come by?

I recently visited my good friend Vanessa for the holidays at her northern California home and she whipped up vegan, clean eating smoothies each morning for breakfast. While they were delicious, they required a special bean-based protein powder. I’m not one to excel at using up an entire vat of protein powder before it expires, or ever, really. I suffer from self-diagnosed FADD (Food Attention Deficit Disorder) and tire quickly of the same flavors. But it got me thinking, what if I used rinsed, canned white beans for added protein instead? The key is identifying the best amounts of sweet, acidic and fruity ingredients to create perfect harmony with the beans.

Kale is oh-so-trendy at the moment and rightfully so, with its plethora of disease-fighting nutrients. The fruits disguise the fact that you’re drinking your salad from a glass.

I’m also fond of swirling in nut butters for added satisfaction these days. Are there any other ingredients that you use that do the trick?

Place the milk and juice in the blender and then add the remaining ingredients. Puree on low speed for a few seconds until it is whirling smoothly and then turn up to high speed until bits of kale have become specks, about 1 minute.

Instructions

Place the milk and juice in the blender and then add the remaining ingredients. Puree on low speed for a few seconds until it is whirling smoothly and then turn up to high speed until bits of kale have become specks, about 1 minute.

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2 Comments

I love smoothies and drink them almost everyday!! I never thought to add beans to them though. Interesting… Also, I like to put an apple and cottage cheese together to make an apple pie smoothie (apple pie spice too!).